A British woman who was a key recruiting figure for Isis and who became a notorious hate figure in her home country has reportedly been killed by a missile strike by American forces on the Iraq/Syria border.

Sally Jones, who became known in British newspapers as the White Widow, was killed by a US Air Force Predator strike that took place close to the border between Syria and Iraq.

There haven’t been many tears shed for Ms Jones, A Whitehall source told The Sun: “The Americans zapped her trying to get away from Raqqa. Quite frankly, it’s good riddance.”

Ms Jones, 50, who lived an ordinary life in Chatham, Kent, before she became radicalised, ended up feted as the ‘White Widow’ and became a integral figure after the death of Kings Heath terrorist Junaid Hussain, who was the leader of the Islamic State’s “digi-jihad” computer hacking brigade.

Jones, who went by the name Umm Hussain Britaniyah, had been one of the world’s most wanted terrorists and was believed to be on a hit list of 20 extremists targeted by the SAS in Syria.

According to The Sun, the government was informed by CIA chiefs in June that US forces had killed Jones in a missile strike close to the Iraq/Syria border.

However, it was kept secret on both sides of the Atlantic over fears her 12-year-old son Jojo may have also died in the blast.

Sources said he was not specifically targeted and it remains unclear if he died, the newspaper reported.